Crystal Castles Album #2 - First Listen

The other day I was privvy to the brand new Crystal Castles album. Today the black-clad pair have announced the full details of the release and I can tell you a bit about what I heard.

There is a much better version of events by Emily Bick on The Quietus but in most parts we agree. This new album seeemed to me to be angled squarely at the live show for Crystal Castles. The whole things ebbs and flows at a pace that should see crowds going wild the world over and much of the abrasive sounds of the first record are replaced with almost rave like moments that sound positively gargantuan. Obviously hearing an album once from a CD player in a pretty small room in London is not a great way of assesing something but the volume certainly helped. Like the previous CC album the louder it gets the better it sounds, particularly Doe Deer, a short blast of white noise that the pair are releasing on ltd. edition vinyl this week for Record Store Day.

The album seemed to lose its way a little towards the end and amusingly when the CD began to skip nobody actually noticed but overrall 'Crystal Castles' (they've gone self-titled again) feels like a strong and confident return to action for one of the most uncomprimising acts around.

Crystal Castles Album #2 - First Listen